Vivid Salon owner Basia Belz looks on as Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr. and Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi speak June 3, 2020 during an event where free masks and face shields were offered to city hair stylists and barbers. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
WESTFIELD – Getting back to business as safely as possible is a priority for Vivid Salon owner Basia Belz.
And for Belz, it’s not about her wallet.
“I want stylists and barbers to be safe and I especially want clients to be safe,” Belz said, which is one reason she was happy to partner with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and City of Westfield to distribute face shields and masks to her colleagues in the industry June 3. “I also care about our community.”
Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr. and Sheriff Nick Cocchi joined Belz outside her Elm Street salon to give out cloth masks, which were made by the Sheriff’s York Street Industries, and face shields, which were designed by Longmeadow High School student Sontino Allentuck.
Cocchi, who is bald, joked that the shutdown of salons and barbers during the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t change his routine, but said his family was affected and so were many others.
“As we work to get back to business during the pandemic, the least we can do is make sure the people providing services to us have the tools they need to safely perform their trade,” Cocchi said.
Tina Guzman of Salon Cabellos on Franklin Street said the mask and shield distribution would help her comply with new regulations and keep herself and clients safe.
“This is very important,” Guzman said. “At this time, it’s difficult for people to feel safe and this kind of equipment has been hard to find.”
Tyler Corveira selects face shields for FrankenHair Salon from Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi and Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr. during a free mask and shield distribution June 3, 2020. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Guzman said reopening was “exciting and difficult.”
“I have never been home this long – not even when I had my children,” she said. “I am happy to get back to work.”
Belz said she was thrilled to open last week and see people again in-person.
“I’m a hugger, so this is hard for me,” she said. “The night before opening was like Christmas!”
Belz said many customers are coming in to cover or blend their gray hair, but even more needed all-over color help.
“We’ve been doing a lot of box color correction,” she said.
Humason said the closing of salons and barbershops “affected a large population of people” and he was happy when Cocchi called about distributing masks and shields to help local businesses reopen safely.
The shield materials were donated by the recently formed Western Massachusetts 3D-Printing Collaborative, led by Allentuck. The face shields were assembled at the Sheriff’s Department’s Main Institution in Ludlow and at the Olde Armory Grille in Springfield.
“Our York Street Industries manufacturing training program has juggled their normal production with making PPE and thanks to donated materials, we have hundreds of face shields we are making available to salon and barbershop employees at no cost to them. We are starting in Westfield and will make our way around the region to help wherever we can,” said Cocchi.
The distribution of face shields is the latest effort by the department to bridge the gap between the need for personal protective equipment and the supply in Massachusetts. According to Cocchi’s office, the York Street Industries program has to date produced more than 45,000 masks, around 1,200 face shields, and over 500 gowns to help get PPE to people who need it the most. The department has provided protective face masks for all inmates and staff members at every jail in the Commonwealth, at correctional institutions across New England, and helped equip dozens of police and fire departments, journalists, and staff at nursing homes and hospitals. Additionally, the department is operating the First Responder Recovery Home for front-line workers recovering from COVID-19.
